"The Police Connection"

Policeman Vince Edwards pays a visit to the Paris Theatre, 8163 Santa Monica Blvd. in "The Police Connection" (Cinemation Industries, 1973). The film, also known as "The Mad Bomber," was directed by Bert I. Gordon. Chuck Connors plays the bomber, a man trying to get even for his daughter's death. 

The manager's up on the marquee and it's obvious that he's had visits from the police before. But he tells Edwards that at the moment he's running a kiddie show so there's nothing to complain about.

Edwards writes him a citation anyway -- for having a display easel protruding more than three feet onto the sidewalk.

Edwards heads on to more serious matters with Chuck Connors on the loose. On the right that's P.J.'s nightclub.

The Paris opened in 1924 as the Carmel Theatre and was a Fox West Coast operation for decades. It later had a fling as an independent classics venue and had a season of live theatre before it went to porno and was renamed the Paris. See the Los Angeles Theatres page on the Carmel Theatre for more information.

Late in the film, after a series of seemingly random bombings, the police ID Chuck Connors and track him driving around the city in a red van filled with dynamite. Here he's headed east on 7th St. with the Warner Downtown (by this time renamed the Warrens) on the right. 

See the pages about the Warner Downtown on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the building as well as several hundred photos. The theatre, now used for selling jewelry, opened as the Pantages in 1920.

On IMDb: "The Police Connection"

"High School Hellcats"

We get a bit of time in the Carmel, a 1925 vintage theatre designed by L.A. Smith, in "High School Hellcats" (American International, 1958). The girls belong to the "Hellcats" meet in this abandoned theatre, you see -- "on the other side of town."  Here we get a marquee view of the closed theatre 18 minutes into the film.

A marquee detail.

 

Good girl Joyce (played by Yvonne Lime) explores the entrance of the Carmel, headed to her first "Hellcats" meeting.

About an hour into the film we get some process work for a drive north on Broadway with Joyce and her boyfriend Mike (played by Brett Halsey) starting down near Olympic Blvd. Here, on the right, the United Artists is flashing madly.

In a frame from a bit farther north on our drive we get the Globe Theatre and the Music Hall beyond -- the latter now back to its original name, the Tower Theatre. Way down there on the right is the United Artists.  Yes, on the drive we're supposedly headed to the abandoned Carmel on Santa Monica Blvd.  Take a right at the next corner, Joyce says.

Our policemen, tipped off that Joyce is in trouble, head into the theatre.

A balcony view -- headed for trouble with a possible knife fight ahead. Joyce is accosted by bad girl Dolly, played by Suzanne Sydney.

A look at the back of the main floor after evil Dolly falls off the balcony.

A happy ending with boyfriend Mike joining Joyce in the balcony.

The Carmel was a Fox West Coast house but after a fling as an independent classics venue and a legit season went to porno and was renamed the Paris soon after the filming.  See the Los Angeles Theatres page on the Carmel Theatre for more information.

Thanks to Eitan Alexander for sending this one our way. The entire film can be seen on YouTube.

On IMDb: "High School Hellcats"